Jul 27, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – There’s human devastation. Still, the PPP Govt commits to deflection. The MV Barima disaster qualifies as extreme domestic devastation. Families and communities battered. The nation bowed. Rather than strengthening citizens in a time of tribulation, the government engages in desperate measures at self-protection. At continuation. At what hurls damnation on its head. Follow these.

The first words out of the government’s mouth were denials. The MV Barima wasn’t overloaded. There was no engine problem. Those held briefly. Then were buried under storms of social media rebuttals. The government stumbled, recovered. Desperate to deflect attention from the blood on its head, the PPP Govt then reached for its remaining props: MV Barima crew members, a management team. All tested for alcohol and other substance use. Search for scapegoats. Find them. Shift attention and intensifying rage to them. A tragedy had to unfold before that step was taken. The test results have been shared. Now how do those exonerate an unbelievably reckless government? Or insulates government ministers? Nothing does. Not when the MV Barima was an open-air steel casket waiting to close one last time. The divers will find supporting evidence. Testing of crew members must be both random and routine, given the culture and public practice of casual drinking pervading that boat’s operations. With that as baseline, similar testing should be done for public transportation operators. The Guinness and grass cultures should provide good business for labs, and inform Guyanese that care about their dangers.